


High Horse

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Hannah Montana References, Hidden Talents, High School, Music, Pining, Years Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cat of the Canals is the most popular country music star- her recent Grammy win is a testament to that. However, unlike what most see, she's not a southern belle with long, sleek black hair and blue eyes- she's a British girl with a very famous and powerful family. Why is she hiding herself? Who really is Cat of the Canals?
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	High Horse

L.A. was everything she thought it’d be and more. The sun shines brightly every day, it’s never colder than 70 degrees, and the palm trees lining the streets never cease to amaze her. She’s been here for five years now, five years since she left England behind and all the negative memories, she associates with it. It seems like a lifetime ago.

“Arya,” a voice calls her into the studio, “Come on it’s your turn.”

“Yeah,” she responded, tucking her short hair behind her ear, “I’m coming. You’re good here right?”

“Yeah,” a little voice perks up.

“She’ll be just fine with her uncle,” he smiled at her, “Go on.”

Five years earlier:

Arya Stark was never one to be an early riser, no, she much preferred the comfort of her bed, wrapped up in a sea of blankets with one leg sticking out to get proper air flow. Her long, dark hair disheveled across the pillow and of course a line of spit coming from her mouth.

“Sweet dreams, little sister?” Her eldest brother Robb asked.

“Piss off,” she groaned into her pillow, her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet, why was he bothering her?

“Now that’s no way to talk to your chauffer. Up and at ‘em pipsqueak.”

She was 5’1”, how dare he call her a pipsqueak, “Five more minutes!”

“it’s been twenty since Jon woke you, ten since Sansa tried, and if you risk another five you’ll have to deal with Rickon.”

She slowly got out of bed, “I’m up. Now can you leave?”

“Most certainly, little sister. Would you like coffee with extra cream or coffee with extra coffee?”

“Do you have caffeine pills?”

“No can do, those are addictive,” he smirked.

“And so are the cigarettes I see you and Jon smoking on a daily basis, but who am I to judge.”

“Touché.”

“Can you please get out of my room; I need to get dressed.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to shower first?”

She shoved her older brother out of her room, but not before hitting him a few times for good measure. She knew she was a sight for sore eyes before 6:30 A.M., but who wouldn’t be? She needed five minutes, a hairbrush, brightening concealer, and dark jeans to make her look semi-presentable.

With her hair in a braid and herself clad in a band t-shirt, minimal but necessary makeup based on her late night, mainly focused on the massive hickey she had on her neck, hence the braid; she was ready for a Stark family breakfast. See, most families let their kids be independent once they reached high school, but her family was entirely the opposite. They had to get up an hour earlier than necessary so they could have family breakfast. Catelyn, her mother, had argued that everyone had different activities, so it’d be unfair to expect each of her children for dinner, but it was well within her right to request their precious sleep.

Arya groaned at her mother’s insistence for breakfast, but at least she always had a spread on the table of eggs, waffles, ham and fruit, and seemingly endless pots of coffee.

“Arya, there’s eggs ready for you, how many do you want?” Catelyn asked.

“Uh,” she mumbled, “Maybe two?”

“Here you go dear,” she said as she loaded her plate up with eggs, bacon, and a couple slices of toast, “You can wash it down with the freshly squeezed orange juice.

Arya wondered if her mother ever truly slept.

“Thanks.”

“So,” Catelyn began, as she herself sat down with her five children and nephew to eat breakfast, “It’s the start of a new semester, is anyone doing anything new?”

“Arya’s doing something new,” Rickon laughed.

She flung a bite of her eggs at her youngest brother who dodged them expertly and they unfortunately landed on her father’s face.

“Arya!” Sansa gasped, however her brother erupted in laughter.

“What new thing are you supposedly doing?” Ned asked as he wiped his face.

“Yes, Arya,” Sansa gave her sister a disparaging look, “What new ‘thing’ are you doing?”

She hesitated a moment, “Well,” she paused, “I’m looking into spending my senior year in L.A.”

“L.A.,” Robb inquired, “L.A. as in America, you know the place with all those, uhm strippers?”

“Yes, Robb,” Arya responded, “I’ve found my true passion in life. I plan to be a window dancer; I mean I have a natural six-pack and my petite size will make me very marketable.”

Catelyn hit her son upside the head, “Sometimes I don’t know who raised you. Be a gentleman, Robert. Now go on dear, why are you interested in L.A.?”

“Well,” she explained, “I really like music and they have a one-year high school program for it. I wouldn’t apply until the Spring and it’d be a one month notice of if I could go, but it could be a great opportunity.”

“Sounds lovely dear,” Ned exclaimed.

Their family breakfast ended pleasantly, and Arya, Sansa, Jon, and Robb were ready to head off to Winterfell High.

“Nice save in there,” Jon said as he buckled his passenger seat and began monkeying with the radio.

“I know right,” Robb laughed, “I mean weaponry, you really sold them there.”

“And I thought Rickon had caught on with you and a boy, I shouldn’t have been so blind,” Sansa joked back.

“Yeah,” Arya shyly responded, “Me and history is such a mess but me and a boy is an improbable mathematical equation.”

“Exactly,” her siblings all chimed in. _How wrong they truly were._

_Gendry Waters hated school, having dyslexia and a stressful home life didn’t help that fact much either. He was damned lucky that Davos and Mayra fostered him last year and were in the process of adopting him. He would have gone mad if he had to stay one more day in King’s Landing. No, he did not miss that place in the slightest._

_“Hey there,” a voice came from behind him._

_“Hey,” he turned around and greeted his girlfriend, Arya Stark. She was a petite little thing with long brown hair and steel grey eyes with a fiery attitude to match. Plus, her voice sounded like an angel whenever she sang to him._

_“Did you make it down the bannister okay last night?”_

_He smiled thinking about how he had to get out of dodge last night when Sansa knocked on Arya’s door claiming there was a massive emergency since her favorite celebrity showed up to a movie premier in a green dress, a fucking green dress._

_“Yeah, unfortunately.”_

_He grabbed her hand and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear._

_“We can’t here,” she protested, “Someone might see.”_

_“I’d argue that M’lady is ashamed of me.”_

_“It’s not that.”_

_“Then what is it?”_

_“My brothers, they’re…”_

_“I know your brothers, actually they’re quite good friends of mine, I could go right up and tell them that I’ve been fucking their little sister.”_

_“Gendry,” She scolded._

_“Or,” he suggested, “I could be rational and just tell them that I’m dating you.”_

_“You’re almost eighteen, I’m barely sixteen.”_

_“Maths were always your strong suit.”_

_“Shove it,” she laughed, “Please give me a little more time. I just want to figure things out a bit. You’re going to school next fall, I might move to L.A. in a year, it’s all up in the air.”_

_“L.A.?”_

_“Mr. Forel told me there’s a music program at UCLA, it could be a really great opportunity.”_

_“But we’d be apart for an entire year,” he whined._

_“I know,” she responded, “That would be the worst part of it all. I can imagine being separated from my family; gods know I need a break sometimes. But not seeing you every day, no that’d be torture.”_

_“You don’t know how badly I want to kiss your right now.”_

_“Keep those thoughts for later,” she smiled, “You’re free after football practice, right?”_

_“My house or the car?”_

_“I think we won’t make it past the car.”_

_“Arya Stark, you are evil.”_

_She smirked and walked away from him. Yeah, he was whipped. She was truly the love of his life, too bad he won’t be able to follow her to L.A. Maybe, maybe he could work something out._

_Unknown Number: Are you coming tonight?_

_Gendry: Yes._

_Unknown Number: Good. Do not be late, 20:00 sharp._

“Ugh,” Arya groaned, as she looked at her phone, another cancellation. She loved Gendry, she truly did, he had been her best friend for years before anything between them happened. If her family paid any attention, they’d have shipped them from the very beginning. She was grateful for their inability to see her as an adult woman who could love a man, anyone really, but it was frustrating. Her elder brothers teased Sansa senselessly about boys, but her, their lips were entirely sealed. Her mother has yet to have ‘the talk’ with her and her father avoided her gaze whenever a person of the opposite sex was brought up. Hells, she had been with Ned Dayne for a better part of her freshman year and no one realized it until she flat out said my boyfriend is taking me to homecoming.

Maybe that was why she was so reluctant to tell her family about him. They knew him and loved him and had this established relationship with him. If things didn’t work out, he didn’t just lose her, he’d lose an entire support system. He kept a lot of things hidden from most people, but he let her in, just a bit. She knew he had a past, but didn’t everyone?

“What is it?” Sansa asked, getting into her car.

“Nothing,” Arya replied.

“That groan doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“A friend just cancelled on something,” she responded curtly.

“You seem pretty upset for a ‘friend’s’ cancellation.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Sansa gave her a knowing look, but before she could further delve into the rabbit hole that was Arya’s dating life, Jon opened the car door.

“No football practices?” Sansa asked him.

“No,” he huffed, pulling a cigarette out from his pants pocket.

“Hey,” Sansa snapped.

‘I’m eighteen,” he defended himself.

“Don’t give a shit,” she pulled it from his hands quickly, “Wait until we’re actually off school property. Don’t get yourself suspended for idiocy.”

She did have a point, Arya agreed.

Jon put the car in gear and started to drive home, but as soon as they were off school grounds, he lit a cigarette, lowered the windows, and became a ghost to the world.

“I swear,” Sansa laughed, looking towards Arya in the backseat, “I don’t know what’s worse for him a fight with Ygritte or his inability to play football for the rest of the year.”

“Hey,” he interrupted.

“You were meant to hear that, you know,” she laughed, “It’s not like I don’t know you’re also in this car.”

“Just drop it.”

“No,” Arya interrupted, she’d deal with Gendry and his shenanigans later, but right now her brother was hurting, truly hurting. “What is going on?”

“Ygritte and I broke up.”

“And the sun rises in the morning,” Sansa smirked.

Jon and Ygritte had always had a tumultuous relationship, to say the least. From her extreme Scottish ways, to her inability to fold a napkin in her lap at dinner. Jon had really taken the cake and chosen a woman who would never fit in to high society. It was one of the many factors that made Arya fear her and Gendry’s relationship. Sure, her family accepted him as her friend, and only her friend. But if he were to be married to her, he’d have to learn a hell of a lot more propriety, regardless if she thought it was necessary or not.

“It’s for real this time,” his voice was low and melancholic.

“Oh Jon,” Sansa grabbed his arm, “I’m truly sorry.”

He puffed his cigarette, “It’s okay,” he sighed, “It wasn’t like this was going to last past the end of this year. We’re all going away, me, Robb, her, Gendry.”

Arya’s breath tightened at the mention of his name. She knew telling him about L.A. would throw him for a loop, but she had not entertained the idea that he would be leaving Winterfell too. She had to be honest, he has a life to live. If it’s away from here, then so be it. But a little part of her just wants to be considered in his decision.

“It doesn’t matter where you all go,” Sansa said diplomatically, “You’ll always end up together.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “For what, Christmas and birthdays? It’ll never be the same.”

“Tough shit,” Sansa all but smacked him upside the head, Arya knew she would’ve if Jon wasn’t driving, “Life changes, people move on, we can’t all live in a box of fairytales.”

_Arya loved her sister, despite their differences. Despite her best friend, Jeyne, calling her Arya horseface for years on end. But that night, last spring when Arya received an impromptu phone call from Sansa, sobbing on the other end as if her life depended on it. She snuck out, drove her parent’s car with only a learner’s permit and a prayer to the gods that no police would be out, did she find her sister on an abandoned road._

_She had always imagined her sister as perfect. Her hair was long and sleek and a beautiful auburn color, while hers was wild and frizzy and untamed. She had piercing blue eyes, compared to her dull grey ones. But at that moment her sister had been the most beautiful she’d ever seen her. Tattered clothes and a bruised eye to match, but never in her life had Arya seen her sister this vulnerable, this exposed._

_“He,” the words hardly escaped her lips._

_Arya knew. She knew for a long time that Joffrey was bad news. She had told Sansa again and again, but her words had fallen on deaf ears._

_Arya wrapped her sister up in a hug, tucking her long hair behind her ear, “I know,” she said quietly, “You and I are going to sit here until you’re okay to get up.”_

_“Arya,” she protested._

_“Hush,” she stroked her hair, “We have all the time in the world.”_

“I’m not living in a fairytale,” he resisted.

“Aren’t you?” Sansa asked.

“When did you become so wise?”

“I’d say it was my advanced psych class from last year,” she smirked.

“Arya?” Jon asked, “Anything to add?’

He was pulling into their garage and she simply stated, “Every song ends. But that’s no reason not to enjoy the music.” She got out of the car and slammed the door shut and made her way to her room.

“Something’s up with her,” Jon said to Sansa.

“I know.”

“I mean, this is hard for all of us, but I never thought it’d break her.”

“Jon,” Sansa said, “I think it’s a bit beyond you and Robb leaving.”

“No,” he gave her a shocked look, but Sansa just pursed her lips.

“Yeah, figured you’d react that way.”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Let it be,” Sansa reasoned, “She’ll tell us when she’s ready. Give her space. She’s done it for us.”

Jon knew Sansa was right, “Okay, but if I hear one negative word, I’m going full throttle.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less of you, big brother.”

Gendry hated the Brotherhood, hated them with every fiber of his being. He wishes her weren’t so desperate for college tuition, otherwise he’d have never walked into that seedy club, never met Beric or Anguy or Thoros. These men, no they weren’t evil on their own and their cause was relatively admirable, but they still hated nobility. They wanted to watch nobility burn from their mansions and Gendry would have none of that.

“Good to see you’re not late, lad,” Beric greeted him.

“You said 20:00,” he replied.

“Aye,” Beric grasped his shoulder, “I did.”

“Is the lad here?” He heard Tom Sevenstrings yell; you’d be hard pressed to find that man without a guitar in hand.

“Yes,” Beric shouted back.

All the mean quickly gathered around the table, looking quite apprehensive.

“What is it?” Gendry finally asked.

Beric sighed, “You’re spending a lot of time with the Starks.”

Gendry was taken aback, he had been explicit that his involvement with the brotherhood not include his personal life, he’d run drugs for them when they needed, beat up the arrogant idiots who overcharged them, hell he even drove a truck full of guns from Manchester to London for them. Hadn’t he done enough?

“I don’t see why that’s any of your concern?” He reasoned.

Beric Don Darrion was a good man. He had been a massive supporter of Ned Stark’s election as mayor in the North. The two of them had been great friends. But for some reason Beric went down the wrong path and with it he created the Brotherhood Without Banners, an anarchist group settled on toppling the elite and overhauling their current government structure. Gendry had joined out of necessity, as a foster kid he needed a way to pay his rent if he was going to prematurely emancipate himself. He didn’t know he’d find a family in Daavos and Mayra or the Starks or even Arya, but now he was too far into this mess.

“The Starks are good people,” Beric reasoned, “I don’t want them caught up in our mess.”

“Again,” Gendry spat, “How does that pertain to me?”

“You’re seeing the youngest girl, right?”

Gendry gasped, he and Arya had barely been a thing for more than three months, how could they know already?

“Drop it, boy,” Thoros said, “We don’t keep tabs on you like you’re the Queen, but we have noticed a change in you.”

“The mission is still the same,” Anguy added.

“I know that,” he argued.

“Do you?” Beric pressed, “Do you really? Because I remember a young lad with a half empty belly and a desire to fight the rich. One so pure and angry and raw, that boy was going to be my successor.”

“Life happens.”

“Aye,” Beric continued, “It does. But does life happen to all the other young boys and girls in the system? Does everything just fall into their laps because they find a good foster family and apparently, they’re the king’s heir apparent?”

Gendry was god smacked.

Before he could reply, Beric simply stated, “You will do what was asked and you will ask no questions. After you’re done, we can ask no more of you.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Tough shit,” Thoros laughed.

“I’m not that.”

“No one’s saying you have to be,” Anguy added.

“Why? Why me?”

“Because,” Beric reasoned, “You have the best excuse to get close.”

“No,” Gendry asserted himself, “I will not do it.”

“You will,” Beric roared, “Because if you don’t, your precious girlfriend’s father will be dead.”

Gendry’s eyes widened.

‘Lad,” Thoros grasped his shoulder again, “I’m sorry to put you though this, but you need to kill the Queen.”

He was true and royally fucked.

“Lad,” Beric came up to him before he left their meeting, “I’m sorry, but it has to be you.”

Gendry ignored him, but he continued, “That girl you’re seeing, forget her.”

“I love-“

“No lad, you two come from two completely different worlds. Besides you’re about to become a terrorist, little lady of yours doesn’t deserve to be pulled into your shit now does she?”

Gendry looked the man who had been a father figure to him for years in the eyes, “No,” he agreed, “She doesn’t.”

“Good. One week, get on Robert’s good side, maybe I’ll have Anguy pull the trigger, but you better opened that god damned door, or I will kill every last Stark except the little one. No,” he warned, “That task will be left to you.”

Arya Stark was humming to herself in the school library.

_Do we really have to grow up?_

_If we never do, then so what?_

_So, what if I don’t wanna, what if I’m just gonna…”_

“Arya,” Mr. Forel, her maths teacher and fencing coach interrupted her.

“Excuse me,” she blushed, “I- I’ll be quiet.”

“No need, dear,” he smiled, “You sound lovely.”

“Thank you.”

“This may be a bit forward, but you were talking to me about the exchange program in America, and well, my friend Jaquen H’ghar, he’s a producer.”

Mr. Forel did not need to explain twice who Jaquen was, Arya had followed his career for years, especially since his discovery of The Shy Maiden, her favorite rock band as of late.

“Oh, I’m not planning on making a career out of this.”

He grasped her shoulder and looked her square in the eye, “My dear, you would be doing the world a disservice if you didn’t try. Record something and I’ll make sure he sees it. You very well could be going to L.A. before you know it.”

She was so excited she practically ran to Gendry’s house after school.

“Hello Arya,” Davos greeted.

“Hi Mr. Seaworth.”

“He’s upstairs, calculus has been a real drag for him.”

“I’ll be sure to help him out.”

She ran up the stairs two at a time, “Boo,” she yelled.

“Ahh,” he groaned, practically flying off his desk chair.

She couldn’t control her laughter, “you should see the look on your face.”

“Shut-it, Stark,” he kissed her softly, “What’s got you so excited.”

“Mr. Forel knows Jaquen H’ghar.”

“The- Jaquen- H’ghar?”

“Hey, don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m sorry love, but I don’t know who that is.”

“I talk about him all of the time.”

“You talk a lot, love. Is he another one of your lovers? Have I been replaced?”

“Shut-it, Waters.”

“Mr. Forel told me to record a song and he’d give it to Mr. H’ghar, he’s a music producer.”

“Arya!” He exclaimed, “That’s wonderful.”

“Yeah,” she smiled, “He said I could be in L.A. sooner rather than later.”

Gendry’s heart dropped, he knew they needed to talk about it, where they’d be going after the year was up. It was already late April and school ended in three weeks, then they just had the summer. He could very well stay in Winterfell and work in Mott’s shop, but he wanted more.

“Arya,” he said tenderly.

“Please,” she sighed, “I don’t want to talk about it. Can you just hold me?”

And that he did. She quickly fell asleep in his arms. “Do you know how much I love you?” He stroked her hair, gods he loved her hair and her eyes and everything about her. He didn’t want to hurt her, Gods it broke him that he’d have to.

“Mmm,” she grumbled and curled her sleeping form into his arms.

“I’m so sorry, love,” he kissed her forehead, “I’m so sorry for all the pain I’m going to cause you.”

A few weeks later Arya hadn’t been feeling well as of late.

“Mom,” Sansa yelled, “I need tampons, can you add those to your list?”

“Sure, thing dear,” Catelyn replied. And that’s when she realized that she was late, that she and Gendry hadn’t used protection that one damn time when it was raining, and it was like a scene out of a movie and she wanted him so badly she forgot.

One does not simply forget those things. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

She doesn’t think she’s ever driven faster to someone’s home before, barreling through his foster parent’s front door with barely a hello to either of them.

Gendry had seen her pulling in, seen the spit fire way she got out of her car, this was it. He cracked his door ever so slightly, just enough so she could hear him but not see him. She wouldn’t be able to see the tears that streamed down his face.

“Yeah, Hot Pie,” he started, “it’s about Arya.”

She paused; did he know? How could he? She just realized this morning.

“No,” he laughed, “We’re not a thing. I mean we hooked up, like once. But I did it to be nice.”

 _“what is he saying?”_ She thought.

“Yeah,” Gendry laughed, “Me and Arya? Never in a million years. I’m going away for school in a few weeks, I don’t have time for someone,” he hesitated, “Someone who’s so clingy.”

She ran out of the house.

She drove for hours, unable to feel anything. She whipped out her phone and dialed the number Mr. Forel had given her.

“Hello?”

“Mr. H’ghar, this is Arya Stark.”

“Hello, my dear, it’s lovely to hear from you.”

“I want to come to L.A.”

“Very well, when you’re done with school, we can arrange something.”

“No,” she cut him off, “I want to come now.”

“Miss Stark, you’re only sixteen.”

“Please,” her voice was small, “I need to leave, and I think I want this.”

“Miss Stark, I can’t help you if you think this is something you want. You have a true talent, maybe when you’re older.”

“Have you ever been heartbroken?” She asked him.

“Miss Stark, all of us have.”

“And did you want nothing more than to run away and hide and make all of the pain go away?”

“Well, yes.”

“Everything is changing, and people are leaving, and I need to breathe. Please.”

“Miss Stark do you really want this?”

“I do. I want to not be Arya Stark and I think you know how to help me.”

“There’s a red-eye tonight to LA.”

“I’ll be on it.”

She hung up the phone and drove home.

“Arya?” Her mother yelled, “Where have you been?”

“I just needed to clear my head.”

“Just because it’s the first day of summer vacation does not mean you can leave the house without permission, young lady. You’re grounded.”

“Okay.”

“To your room now.”

Arya hugged her mother, “Alright.”

Cat stoked her daughter’s hair, “Is something wrong love?”

“No,” she replied, “Everything is fine.”

“Alright. Go on. I’ll wake you in the morning, it’s late.”

But the next morning, Arya Stark was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think? Also anyone able to make a mood board? Or know how to upload one?


End file.
